Jazz for aficionados

Schubert, I listened to her every Saturday morning; that's when she came on here, and I don't recall any more interesting conversations about jazz; she could keep you so into her conversation, that you never left till it was all over.

Amen , my brother by a different mother .

Been without Internet for a week.  I survived just fine and it's always reassuring that it IS possible, still, to be without it.  

Good comments re Miles and I relate most closely to strateahed's point of view about him.  Miles Davis exemplified what is arguably  the most important aspect of the spirit of jazz; it's always evolving.  His conviction to that idea was, by itself, an important influence on other musicians and on modern jazz.  As far as the more directly musical influences are concerned there are probably very few young(er) trumpet players playing today that one can't point to while listening and say "aha!, that was a Miles'ism".  I don't typically hear nearly as much "Lee Morgan" in younger players.  While there have been many extremely individualistic players in jazz, I don't think there have been any who don't show the influence of players who came before at least to some degree.  

I love Morgan's very fiery playing and particularly that unique swagger that he had in his time feel.  However, he was squarely in and pretty much stayed in a hard-bop bag.  For Miles hard-bop was one rest-stop on his way to his next stylistic move.  My favorite Miles is with the classic "60's Quintet" and I find that music more interesting and more harmonically advanced than most of what I have heard from Morgan.  As an instrumentalist he was kind of unassuming.  His tone could be "casual" sometimes and without that always full and confident tone of Morgan's; but, that was an artistic choice imo and he could play with fantastic control and delicacy when he wanted to.  He didn't play with the obvious fiery quality of Morgan; but, was more subtle and much less predictable.  When Morgan phrases it's much easier to anticipate, at least to a degree, how he will end a phrase; when I listen to Miles the sense is that he is always surprising the listener.  Of course, his prowess as a band leader who encouraged inventiveness is well known. 

I understand why some listeners lost it when he went electric; although I don't agree that he lost all his previous listeners.  But, I think it's always important to remember that one's reaction to art from a great artist usually says something about ourselves as much as about the art; and, to "get it" one has to consider the complete evolution of the music and not just one or two evolutionary periods. Miles' electric music was exactly where he needed to go as an artist if one considers the sequence of stylistic moves that he made leading up to it.  Morgan's total output doesn't have that kind of breadth and, for me, even in a hard-bop bag his playing is certainly different but not "better" than Miles'.  Btw, a correction: Morgan was 33 when he died not 20.  Still and sadly very young, but not as young as Clifford Brown who died at age 25 and who is considered Morgan's main influence.  

Some listeners may prefer a more traditional and comfortable approach to playing a familiar melody; but, for me, what Miles does with this melody is incredibly beautiful and unusual and the ensemble playing is fantastic.  My favorite quintet:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NRHK9psKK7I

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_whk6m67VE

Thanks for the links @frogman ... good stuff indeed. I agree with what you said and how you described the differences between Morgan and Miles.

I'm torn between the two great groups though. BTW, if you haven't already gotten it, check out " '58 Sessions" featuring the "Kind of Blue" ensemble. To me "Bitches Brew" and beyond went a little too far. 

I went back and looked up some history too ... like that Miles was already 30 when Clifford Brown died. Having kicked his heroin habit, he was poised to ascend to the throne; and here comes this newcomer. Listen to Lee Morgan's solos on Blue Train ... recorded when Morgan was just 19 years old. Man, talk about blazing! @orpheus10 I really get your Charlie Parker/Lee Morgan sax/trumpet comparison. Little wonder Lee was never mentioned by Miles. He was not likely to offer any praise; and criticism would have come off as jealousy or bitterness. At least that's my take.

+1 with @schubert . Marian McPartland was a great personality and an elegant lady. She was one of my wife's favorite artists. We had the good fortune to be stage-side for what would be one of Ms. McPartland's last performances. She had to be assisted to her seat, and still put on an excellent show. I'm glad our local station continued to run her recordings of "Piano Jazz." 

I don't know where the idea that Miles never mentioned Lee Morgan came from (myth?), but here is at least one time when he did (not much, but he did 😎:

http://www.erenkrantz.com/Music/MilesDavisInterview.shtml